October review and November set-up

October 29, 2017

in my personal Bullet Journal

After two years using the Bullet Journal system created by Ryder Carroll, my planning system is still evolving constantly. The layouts I use vary depending on my inspiration and my needs. And this also stands for my monthly pages : I’m still looking for the perfect planning system that would allow me to easily manage my projects and daily life at once.

October was a mix of ups and downs. I felt like I was on an emotional roller coaster and my bullet journal perfectly shows these variations of my mood and motivation.

October review

Monthly spreads

My monthly plan is a basic of the Bullet Journal system : on the left page, a vertical bullet-journal-style calendar and goals and tasks on the right one.

Beside this task list spread, I also used a goal collection to split my goals into tasks and keep track of my progress. This collection is definitely going to stay as a part of my planning system for November. For once, I can say that I managed to work on all my goals and most of them are really close to be completed.

My October monthly log. It comes with an other spread (non pictured) for my monthly goals task lists.

Monthly collection : 30 days of self improvement

At the beginning of October, I committed myself to join the self improvement challenge created by Powa (French bullet journal blogger). So my first move was to create this dedicated collection in my bullet journal. The goal of this challenge was to answer a self development oriented question. For me the aim was not to just answer the question automatically, but more to start explore some areas of my life I’ve been neglecting.

Well, let’s face the truth : I failed to keep up with this challenge. I knew it wouldn’t be something easy to do for me, but I just didn’t took the time needed to make the challenge fit into my regular schedule.

So I intend to start again where I stopped on this project (meaning, at the very beginning).

In October, I used 2 different weekly layouts: a super compact 7 days on 2 pages inspired by Ink by Jeng for the busy weeks and something a lot more loose weekly planning system for the rest of the month.It happens that I have a lot more free time these last weeks and I switched for a weekly+dailies combo. The double spread features a weekly master task list on the left (with personal and blog sections) and daily logs that I create as needed. It’s kind of a back to the bullet journal basics for me after months of weekly spreads only!

The first layout is perfect for busy weeks. The second one is closer to the original
bullet journal system and ideal when I have a more flexible schedule.

My planning system for November

I don’t know what November holds for me, but one thing is sure: my main focus will undoubtedly be self care. I want to spend more time for myself, and to learn how to relax physically and mentally. And I certainly hope that my planning system will be my best ally to reach that goals and find a new balance.As always, I’ll try to keep my planning system as simple and minimal as possible. So I just created 2 monthly spreads for November.

My monthly planI changed 2 things about it compared to the one I used in October. Firstly, my monthly calendar is divided into 2 columns for in November, as I’ll start to be a AirBnB host and needed to include my booking calendar in my personal schedule. Secondly, the right page will only be dedicated to my monthly goals and the related task lists.

My monthly running task listAs it no longer will be along with my monthly calendar, I created a separate spread to host my monthly task list. I took inspiration from the Alastair method to organise it, each column being a week of the month. I’ll use this list as a braindump and will easily be able to plan my tasks ahead.

On the right, a running task list. The 6 columns on the left allow me to plan tasks ahead in time: 5 columns for the 5 weeks in November and a sixth one for any tasks that I intend to take care of later.

Memory cards

I had put my memory cards project aside, because sometimes, laziness happens. But it will be back in November!I asked myself why I dropped this project even though I really cared about it and figured that it may just be a matter of logistics: on my previous attempt, I never printed the cards sufficiently far in advance and when I reached the bottom of the pile, I usually let days to elapse before crafting new cards. In November, I changed this and printed them all in advance. Also, they’re moving from my desk to my night stand to be part of my evening routine!

I’ll definitely add some new collections to this planning system very soon. The end of the year and holiday season is getting closer and it will soon be time to think of gifts for loved ones and to figure a planning system out for 2018!Are you guys ready for this new month?